Tried a HK USP in .45 ACP today

Today, at the American Heroes Challenge in Las Vegas (more on that in a little bit), I donated some money to charity in order to fire 50 rounds of .45 ACP through a HK USP, which had been recommended to me as a 1911 shooter by someone from this forum.

I liked the USP a lot, and once I got used to firing it, which took about 1 magazine, I started hitting the steel bam bam bam, and was really pleased with my performance. The trigger pull was good, the recoil was soft, and the accuracy seemed dead on.

My only problems with it were pretty minor. I am used to bracing my thumb against the 1911 safety, so when I used the USP with a similar grip I kept sometimes weirdly decocking the USP while firing by resting my thumb on the decocker lever. Also, my thumb position prevented the slide from locking back when the magazine and chamber were empty.

Still, though, I had a good experience. Maybe in the future I'll get a HK USP and use it for competition if I ever want to get away from 1911s.

An open letter to the gun community from HK’s marketing department:
In a world of compromises, some people put the bullets in the magazine backwards…But it doesn’t matter, because our gun is on the cover of the Rainbow Six video games. Look how cool that SEAL coming out of the water looks… If you buy a $2,000 SOCOM, you will be that cool of an operator too. And chicks will dig you.
At HK, we stuck a piston on an AR15, just like a bunch of other companies have done, dating back to about 1969. However ours is better, because we refuse to sell it to civilians. Because you suck, and we hate you.
Our XM8 is the greatest rifle ever developed. It may melt, and it doesn’t fit any accessories known to man, but that is your fault. If you were a real operator, you would love it. Once again, look at Rainbow Six, that G36 sure is cool isn’t it? Yeah, you know you want one.And by the way, check out our new HK45. We decided that humans don’t need to release the magazine with their thumbs. If you were a really manly teutonic operator, you would be able to reach the controls. Plus we’ve fired 100,000,000 rounds through one with zero malfunctions, and that was while it was buried in a lake of molten lava, on the moon. If you don’t believe us, it is because you aren’t a real operator.
By the way, our cheap, mass-produced, stamped sheet metal guns like the G3 and MP5 are the bestest things ever, and totally worth asinine scalpers prices, but note that cheap, mass-produced, stamped sheet metal guns from other countries are commie garbage. Not that it matters, because you’re civilians, so we won’t sell them to you anyway. Because you suck, and we hate you, but we know you’ll be back. We can beat you down like a trailer park wife, but you’ll come back, you always do.
Buy our stuff.
Sincerely
HK Marketing DepartmentHK. Because you suck. And we hate you.

See? A few more years pwning n00bs on counterstrike forums, and you'll get the hang of it...

If you liked it, that's what matters. I personally would rather throw a USP at an attacker than carry it as intended, though. It's fatter than a hippo, feels like a toy, has a horrible trigger, the controls are stiff and uncomfortable and there are many better options out there imo not only from competitors but from HK themselves. For the money, a SIG will perform just as well with (in my experience) better accuracy and smoother controls. The USP is seriously overpriced. I wouldn't pay more than Glock prices for one.

All that said, look at their newer HK45 and P30 models. The P30 particularly seems much more worth its price than other HK offerings.

I am not a huge H&K fan, but I definitely prefer them over SIGs. The P226 and 229 seem to rotate over my hand when they recoil, similar to the M&P, whereas Glocks, H&Ks, and Springfield XDms seem to push straight back against my hand. I'm sure it's just personal preference, but I definitely like my guns to have a "low" center of gravity.

That said, I do think polymer SIGs have nicer triggers than the H&Ks. Again, probably just preference.

"No. Listen to me because I know what I'm talking about here." -- Hannibal

An open letter to the gun community from HK’s marketing department:
In a world of compromises, some people put the bullets in the magazine backwards…But it doesn’t matter, because our gun is on the cover of the Rainbow Six video games. Look how cool that SEAL coming out of the water looks… If you buy a $2,000 SOCOM, you will be that cool of an operator too. And chicks will dig you.
At HK, we stuck a piston on an AR15, just like a bunch of other companies have done, dating back to about 1969. However ours is better, because we refuse to sell it to civilians. Because you suck, and we hate you.
Our XM8 is the greatest rifle ever developed. It may melt, and it doesn’t fit any accessories known to man, but that is your fault. If you were a real operator, you would love it. Once again, look at Rainbow Six, that G36 sure is cool isn’t it? Yeah, you know you want one.And by the way, check out our new HK45. We decided that humans don’t need to release the magazine with their thumbs. If you were a really manly teutonic operator, you would be able to reach the controls. Plus we’ve fired 100,000,000 rounds through one with zero malfunctions, and that was while it was buried in a lake of molten lava, on the moon. If you don’t believe us, it is because you aren’t a real operator.
By the way, our cheap, mass-produced, stamped sheet metal guns like the G3 and MP5 are the bestest things ever, and totally worth asinine scalpers prices, but note that cheap, mass-produced, stamped sheet metal guns from other countries are commie garbage. Not that it matters, because you’re civilians, so we won’t sell them to you anyway. Because you suck, and we hate you, but we know you’ll be back. We can beat you down like a trailer park wife, but you’ll come back, you always do.
Buy our stuff.
Sincerely
HK Marketing DepartmentHK. Because you suck. And we hate you.

See? A few more years pwning n00bs on counterstrike forums, and you'll get the hang of it...

C'mon, dude. I can't believe you posted that crap. lol The USP is a great handgun. They shoot extraordinarily well. As a bit of advice...I wouldn't recommend resting my thumbs on any lever on a handgun, no matter the model. Whether it's the Slide Stop Lever on a Glock or a Decocking Lever on a Sig. They're not meant for that. It sounds as if your thumbs are riding too far high off of the side of the pistol. Glad you liked it though....they're great guns. My USP Tactical 45 is easily one of the best shooting and most accurate 45ACP handguns on the planet...not mention, probably the safest to shoot/use/manipulate.

You must have the hands for it; I liked the USP OK, but I just didn't have big enough hands or long enough fingers when it came down to it. I had a hard time even operating the safety without changing my grip. I ended up trading it for a Glock 30, thinking I wanted something smaller that would fit in a pack, which I later sold to finance the Gun Blog .45.

There's nothing wrong with HK, really, it's just that they have so many followers who think they're magical talismans of tacticality. They're just guns.